Contents

Background

The report that would later become famous as the "Pentagon Papers" was the United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, a 47-volume, 7,000-page, top-secretUnited StatesDepartment of Defense history of the United States' political and military involvement in the Vietnam War from 1945 to 1971.

The study was commissioned in 1967 by Robert McNamara, then Secretary of Defense. McNamara appointed Leslie Gelb, who was also director of Policy Planning and Arms Control for International Security Affairs at the Pentagon, as director of the project. Gelb hired 36 military officers, civilian policy experts, and historians to write the monographs that constituted the content of the project. The 'Papers' included 4,000 pages of actual documents from the 1945–67 period, and 3,000 pages of analysis.

Impact of the 'Papers'

Among other things, the Papers revealed that the United States government deliberately expanded its role in the war with airstrikes against Laos, raids of the coast of North Vietnam, and U.S. Marine Corps attacks before the American public was told of them, while PresidentLyndon B. Johnson was promising not to expand the war. The document widened the credibility gap between the U.S. government and the American people, hurting the Richard Nixon administration's war effort.

According to Anthony Lewis's contribution in the coursepack from James Goodale's (former inhouse counsel to the Times) law school course on Old Media, New Media the Times received advice from inhouse counsel not to publish. Goodale counseled otherwise, reasoning that the press had a First Amendment right to print material of such significance to the people's understanding of government policy. The Nixon administration, however, argued that Ellsberg and Russo had no legal authority to release classified documents and were therefore guilty of a felony (treason) in providing them to the Times.

One of the "credibility gaps" that the Times wrote of was that a consensus to bomb North Vietnam had developed in the Johnson administration on September 7, 1964, before the U.S. presidential elections.[3] However, according to the same Papers, none of the actions recommended by the consensus on September 7 involved bombing North Vietnam.[4] On June 14 1971 the Times declared that the Johnson administration began the last rounds of planning for a bombing campaign in November.

Another controversial issue was the implication by the Times that Johnson had made up his mind to send U.S. combat troops to Vietnam by July 17, 1965 and this became the basis for an allegation that he only pretended to consult his advisors from July 21–27. This was due to the presence of a cable which stated that "[Deputy Secretary of DefenseCyrus] Vance informs McNamara that President has approved 34 Battalion Plan and will try to push through reserve call-up."[5] When the cable was declassified in 1988, it was revealed that it read "there was a continuing uncertainty as to [Johnson's] final decision, which would have to await Secretary McNamara's recommendation and the views of Congressional leaders, particularly the views of Senator[Richard] Russell."[6]

U.S. Government's Reaction

When the Times began publishing its series, President Nixon became incensed. His words to National Security AdvisorHenry Kissinger that day included "people have gotta be put to the torch for this sort of thing…" and "let's get the son-of-a-bitch in jail."[7] After failing to get the Times to voluntarily stop publishing, Attorney GeneralJohn Mitchell and President Nixon requested and obtained a federal court injunction that the Times cease the publication of excerpts. The Times appealed the injunction that was issued, and the case began (quickly) working its way through the court system.

Thomas Tedford and Dale Herbeck summed up the reaction of editors and publishers at the time:

“

As the press rooms of the Times and the Post began to hum to the lifting of the censorship order, the journalists of America pondered with grave concern the fact that for fifteen days the 'free press' of the nation had been prevented from publishing an important document and for their troubles had been given an inconclusive and uninspiring 'burden-of-proof' decision by a sharply divided Supreme Court. There was relief, but no great rejoicing, in the editorial offices of America's publishers and broadcasters.

Bibliography

_____ (1971–1972). The Pentagon Papers: The Defense Department History of United States Decisionmaking on Vietnam. Boston: Beacon Press. 5 vols. "Senator Gravel Edition"; includes documents not included in government version. ISBN 0-8070-0526-6 & ISBN 0-8070-0522-3.